"I was very upset to think that I might have caused offense to people," she added.

The teacher said she did not want her experience to put people off visiting Sudan where she said she had a "fabulous time" and which she described as an "extremely beautiful place."

"In fact I know of a lovely school that needs a new Year Two teacher," she said. Asked what she thought about her sentencing she said it was "a very delicate area."

An Emirates airlines plane carrying the 54-year-old touched down in the pre-dawn darkness Tuesday at London's Heathrow airport.

Her release came after two British Muslim lawmakers, Sayeeda Warsi and Nazir Ahmed -- both members of the House of Lords -- persuaded Sudanese officials that letting Gibbons go free would create international goodwill toward their country.

Gibbons arrived back in England after she was granted a presidential pardon Monday. She was arrested after a former secretary at her school complained to the authorities, apparently in retaliation for being dismissed from her job, Sudanese officials told CNN.

Gibbons' conviction for blasphemy could have seen her sentenced to 40 lashes. Without a pardon, she would have remained in jail another six days.

"Common sense has prevailed," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after her release was announced. Gibbons said Tuesday that her immediate plans were to spend Christmas with her family and then to look for a teaching job in the New Year.

She was expected to travel home to the northern English city of Liverpool accompanied by her family.

CNN reporter Wilf Dinnick, who accompanied Gibbons on the second leg of her flight from Dubai to London, said the atmosphere among Gibbons' delegation was somber. British officials traveling with Gibbons told CNN she was exhausted and that she was moved up to first class to allow her to get some sleep.

She was accompanied by a security guard for the duration of the flight and did not speak to reporters during the journey.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir granted her a presidential pardon earlier Monday, and she left the country hours later under court order.

Sudanese courts ruled she should be deported after completing her sentence.

The efforts to secure her release were complicated by pressure from Sudanese hard-liners for her to complete her 15-day sentence.E-mail to a friend